Text 939, 163 rader
Skriven 2006-03-06 04:59:06 av Bob Hoffman (8:8/2)
Ärende: 'Ye must be born again.'-John 3:7
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From: "Bob Hoffman" <bhoffman@fmlynet.org>

       Daily Devotional

      M&E Monday
      Charles H. Spurgeon
      Mar 5, 2006


March

03/06/AM



'Ye must be born again.'-John 3:7



Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we
should be very diligent to take heed that we really are 'born again,' for there
are many who fancy they are, who are not. Be assured that the name of a
Christian is not the nature of a Christian; and that being born in a Christian
land, and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no avail
whatever, unless there be something more added to it-the being
'born again,' is a matter so mysterious, that human words cannot describe
it. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is
born of the Spirit.' Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt:
known by works of holiness, and felt by a gracious experience. This great work
is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for himself: a new
principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects
the entire man. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so
that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and
dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: man can do the
one, God alone can do the other. If you have then, been 'born again,' your
acknowledgment will be, 'O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, Thou art my
spiritual Parent; unless Thy Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new,
holy, and spiritual life, I had been to this day 'dead in trespasses and sins.'
My heavenly life is wholly derived from Thee, to Thee I ascribe it. 'My life is
hid with Christ in God.' It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in
me.' May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be
unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

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March

03/06/PM



'Before destruction the heart of man is haughty.'-Proverbs 18:12



It is an old and common saying, that 'coming events cast their shadows before
them;' the wise man teaches us that a haughty heart is the prophetic prelude of
evil. Pride is as safely the sign of destruction as the change of mercury in
the weather-glass is the sign of rain; and far more infallibly so than that.
When men have ridden the high horse, destruction has always overtaken them. Let
David's aching heart show that there is an eclipse of a man's glory when he
dotes upon his own greatness. 2 Sam. 24:10. See Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty
builder of Babylon, creeping on the earth, devouring grass like oxen, until his
nails had grown like bird's claws, and his hair like eagle's feathers. Dan.
4:33. Pride made the boaster a beast, as once before it made an angel a devil.
God hates high looks, and never fails to bring them down., All the arrows of
God are aimed at proud hearts. O Christian, is thine heart haughty this
evening? For pride can get into the Christian's heart as well as into the
sinner's; it can delude him into dreaming that he is 'rich and increased in
goods, and hath need of nothing.' Art thou glorying in thy graces or thy
talents? Art thou proud of thyself, that thou hast had holy frames and sweet
experiences? Mark thee, reader, there is a destruction coming to thee also. Thy
flaunting poppies of self-conceit will be pulled up by the roots, thy mushroom
graces will wither in the burning heat, and thy self-sufficiency shall become
as straw for the dunghill. If we forget to live at the foot of the cross in
deepest lowliness of spirit, God will not forget to make us smart under His
rod. A destruction will come to thee, O unduly exalted believer, the
destruction of thy joys and of thy comforts, though there can be no destruction
of thy soul. Wherefore, 'He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.'

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It was not the nails!



(J. C. Philpot)



"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Mark 15:34



It was not the nails driven through His hands and feet;

it was not the crown of thorns placed upon His brow;

it was not the stripes which mangled His back;

it was not the languor and faintness under which He

suffered—which caused the Lord to die.



It was not the mere bodily agony of the cross; it was

not the mere pain, though most acute and severe, of

the nails driven through His sacred hands and feet. It

was not the being stretched upon the cross six hours

that constituted the chief part of the Redeemer's

suffering. But it was the almost intolerable load of

imputed sin—the imputed sins of millions. It was the

tremendous pouring of the wrath of God into His holy

soul; it was the hiding of His Father's face, and the

very pangs of hell that there caught hold of Him.



Our suffering Savior drank the cup of the wrath of

God to the very dregs—when our vile, dreadful, and

horrible sins were laid upon Him!



"Yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten

by Him, and afflicted." Isaiah 53:4



"Yet it pleased the Lord to crush Him, and cause

Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His

soul an offering for sin . . ." Isaiah 53:10

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